


Day 4: Missing Scenes Thursday

by birdbrainberke



Series: Zason Oneshots [4]
Category: Power Rangers (2017)
Genre: M/M, Zason Week, ft. a text from trini, mopey rangers, when it's only zason trini's apparently the only cameo i can work in
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-28
Updated: 2017-07-28
Packaged: 2018-12-07 22:09:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11632920
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/birdbrainberke/pseuds/birdbrainberke
Summary: Zack and Jason are good a punching each other, but they suck when it comes to admitting their feelings.





	Day 4: Missing Scenes Thursday

**Author's Note:**

> _**[Zason Week](https://zasonweek2017.tumblr.com/) \- Day 4: Missing Scenes Thursday.** Fill in the blanks that were left by the movie? What happened in the background?_
> 
> My brain’s been working in AU mode, so trying to work within the movie’s canon was a struggle. Hopefully this is appropriately feel good.

Billy had morphed, and that was awesome.

Zack had punched him, and that was definitely not awesome.

Zack had proven himself to be a loose cannon, and Jason was still working out how to handle that, and that was complicated by the fact that Jason was also starting to admire Zack--both for his carefree attitude and his good looks.

It wasn’t the first time he’d found a guy attractive, but he thought he had better sense than to crush on a moron like Zack Taylor.

Good sense told him to stay away, that the way he’d flirted with Trini and Kim pretty much proved that he wasn’t into guys. Good sense also told him that crushing on a teammate wouldn’t end well, because he’d just end up distracted and unfocused.

But Jason had never been one to listen to good sense, and while lying in bed after their campfire bonding session, he found himself punching out a text to Zack.

**Me: Hey can we talk about earlier? I don’t like how it ended**

He stared at the screen, considering whether or not to send the message. While he did want to fix things with Zack, he wasn’t sure if doing that while they were alone was the best plan. Jason didn’t think he’d blurt out his feelings, but after finding a spaceship and falling hard for the biggest idiot on the team, he wasn’t sure he could rule anything out.

\------

Zack had gotten good at covering up bruises so his mom wouldn’t worry.

He, however, hadn’t figured out how not to beat himself up.

He was sure this was the last straw. Jason was sick of him, and now he had no chance with him. He’d screwed up at the mine, he’d screwed up half a dozen times during training, and now he screwed up with the fucking zord.

He’d probably also screwed up their chances at morphing, at actually having a chance to stop Rita, but that didn’t bother him as much. Even with the fate of the world at stake, Zack couldn’t shake the feeling that he needed to fix things with Jason more.

He abandoned the concealer and grabbed his phone.

**Me: I’m sorry for earlier. You free to talk?**

He sighed deeply as he stared at his phone. Maybe this wouldn’t fix anything, but he figured he should try.

He wasn’t sure if he could, though. Confidence was something Zack had never actually had. He projected it, people bought the farce, and it kept him insulated.

If he sent this text, Jason would know just how scared he really was, and that terrified him.

Plus he’d already tried once already, earlier, when they were camped around the bonfire. Trini had opened up, and Billy seemed relatively content, but Kim had seemed squirrely and Jason still refused to talk to him.

He set his phone down without sending the text, deciding that he should just try to talk to Jason in person, but seconds later his phone beeped.

**Crazy Girl: Talk to him. I know you want to.**

Zack’s stomach dropped as he tried to figure out where he’d slipped up when a second message came through.

**Crazy Girl: You aint the only insightful one hb <3**

Zack smiled at his phone, decided that he needed to thank Trini tomorrow when he saw her, then he sent the text to Jason and took a deep breath.

Jason responded almost instantly, and though Zack’s heart was thumping painfully, he managed a small smile.

**Bossman: Me too. Can I come over for a bit?**

\------

Jason texted as soon as he was outside Zack’s trailer, and Zack rushed outside faster than he’d meant to.

He was aiming for “chill,” but the chance for chill was long gone.

Jason didn’t seem to notice. His hands were shoved in his pockets and he was shuffling his feet awkwardly. “Hey, Z.”

“Hey, Bossman,” Zack said before locking the trailer door. “Thanks for coming…”

Jason nodded as he stared awkwardly at his own feet.

“Wanna walk?” Zack asked, and Jason nodded again.

The pair walked in silence for around a mile before Jason stopped, dug his toe into the dirt, and took a deep breath. “I’m sorry.” He paused, then added, “I get it.”

Zack scrunched up his face. “Get what?”

For the first time that night, Jason looked at him. “Taking the Zord. Being restless.” He gave Zack a lopsided grin. “Punching me.”

Zack couldn’t help but smile back. “You deserved it,” he said with a wink.

“So did you,” Jason said, but he didn’t sound angry. If anything, he sounded amused.

“Yeah. Guess I did.”

They kept walking until Zack, about another mile later, reached out and grabbed Jason’s arm. “You said I know exactly who you are,” he said gently, “but I really don’t.”

The implication--that I’d like to--hung between them, and Zack noticed Jason was getting skittish again.

He reluctantly took his hand away, hoping it would make Jason more comfortable. “It’s okay. I get it.”

Jason looked up at him, confused. “Get what?”

“Not wanting to talk.”

Knowing that pressure would make Jason close himself off even more, Zack offered a small smile and continued down the path.

He noticed a few seconds later that Jason hadn’t moved, and he turned to see Jason tearing up.

“Bossman?”

Jason shook his head and wiped his eyes with his sleeve.

“What is it?”

They settled down against a tree, and though Zack wanted to reach out and touch Jason, he resisted. He didn’t want to scare Jason away, so he just sat quietly as Jason stared blankly at the ground.

“I’m going to get you all killed,” he said softly, and Zack reflexively reached out a put a hand on Jason’s leg. Jason didn’t flinch, so Zack relaxed and gave his leg a quick squeeze.

“You’re not responsible for us,” Zack said, but Jason obviously didn’t believe that. “You’re not, Bossman. We could leave if we wanted. So could you. But…”

He trailed off, because he wasn’t sure what he wanted to say. Was he sticking around because saving the world was the right thing to do? Or was it because he was avoiding home and his mom’s inevitable decline?

Or maybe it was because he finally had friends, even if they’d found each other in the most improbable way.

“But what?”

“I dunno about them,” Zack said slowly, pointedly avoiding Jason’s gaze, “but I wanna stay. For them.” He looked up after a moment’s silence to see Jason looking at him expectantly. “For you,” he added. “I wanna stay for you.”

Zack studied Jason’s face, trying to work out what he was thinking, when Jason leaned toward him and kissed him softly.

Jason didn’t move away after he broke the kiss, and Zack felt himself between kissing Jason back and running away.

“Was that okay?” Jason asked, his voice soft and shaky.

Instead of running, Zack nodded once.

“Can I do it again?”

Zack nodded again, and he shivered as Jason’s hand gripped the back of his neck.

This, he knew, wasn’t the conversation they needed to have--if they were going to save the world, they had some issues to work through--but kissing let Zack know that at least Jason didn’t hate him.

At least it was a start.

**Author's Note:**

> Talk to me on [Tumblr](http://payneinthearsenal.tumblr.com/) because Friday is a throwaway day at work.


End file.
